Karma users furious after unlimited data plan changes

Hotspot group Karma has announced changes to its unlimited data plan that will see Neverstop speeds throttled after a monthly data allowance is exceeded.

Karma hotspot users will be pleased to hear that the internet company is restoring 5 Mbps download and upload speeds on its unlimited data plan, but there’s a catch.

It turns out that these speeds will only last for 15GB of data, after which the service is throttled to between 64 Kbps and 128 Kbps.

Speaking via a blog post, Karma CEO Steven van Wel said:

“We made a mistake. We modeled Neverstop usage to be much higher than usage on Refuel. But we never anticipated that some customers would use over 1,000GB a month. Some of you asked why we don’t simply kick off the bad guys. Frankly, we don’t think there are any bad guys.”

“We offered an all-you-can-surf option, and people took us up on it. That’s on us. But usage this high is not something that will work today. The other thing made clear in your feedback is that speed is important. Slowing it down was not a good solution, which is understandable.”

The blog also reveals that $1 of credit will be earned through each unused GB of data. Van Wel adds that ‘based on current usage’, the changes won’t affect ‘most’ people, although he admits that customers looking to binge-watch Netflix probably won’t get much out of Karma.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Karma website is decorated with furious comments left by hotspot owners learning about the plan changes.

One user writes: “I’ve ordered my return label. I am severely disappointed.” Another added: “I understand the cap at 15GB. I get it. But after the 15GB you drop the speed to 64-128 Kbps?! You know that this is not enough. You can’t do anything with this.”

Earlier in the month, we reported on Karma’s investigation into how the group could slow down speeds to prevent users from abusing the unlimited plans to suck up hundreds of gigabytes of data.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Karma responds to comments made about the changes. Clearly, a significant number of Karma users are pretty miffed about the new service.

After three years studying at the University of Winchester, Tom graduated with a journalism degree under his belt. A couple of work placements out in the real world at PC Advisor and the BBC taught him that journalism is pretty fun, and a couple of months later he joined the team at Phonecruncher, then signing up with TalkAndroid. Tom would be the first to admit he spends far too much time worrying about Arsenal FC results and watching strange videos on YouTube.